The Chronicles of Hilarity
by EloquentDisaster
Summary: Follow Ari as her birthday takes a turn south and she meets a hero with a fantastic cape. Cloud, Sora, Reno, Rude and Midori join in on the adventure among many others. Follow the FVII: DoC plot as it takes some interesting turns. Beware language!
1. Screaming in the Rain

Well hey there! This is actually a roleplay between myself and two other friends who lack fanfiction accounts but you may refer to them as Squral and Taffy. They will leave little notes which I will label accordingly. Again, this is a roleplay, so it switched point of view with whoever is writing.

Also, since the summary could only be so long I'm continuing it here! Ha, take that fanfiction!

There will be romance also, but I feel like for the main part it is action/adventure and humor (From myself at least) and the couples are mainly VincentxOC, CloudxOC, and RenoxOC. Don't be hatin'. Also rated M because of some mild scadalousness, no lemons though. We can't handle those, sorry Internet perverts!

Setting: Edge, though we're going to pretend at first we're in Midgar and then we go to Edge later. Don't let the fact that we keep saying Edge confuse you. It's rainy and generally grey. Follows the Dirge of Cerberus plot as well as we can.

Our plan so far is to post one post from each of us per chapter, and as Taffy doesn't join the roleplay in the very beginning they'll be a little short. They'll get longer later, no worries!

I guess I play Ari obviously, and my Vincent baby. Vincent and Cloud are supposedly 21 (Vincent will forever be 21) So I'm making Vincent like…19? Yeaah, and Ari is 18. Sweet.

Ummm, if you have any questions or criticism or anything to say just review or send me a message! I'm impossible to offend, and I always would like to improve my writing!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any Final Fantasy characters or the Dirge of Cerberus plot idea thingy. I do however own Ari, as per she is practically my roleplay clone. Please do not reuse her without my permission, and the same applies to Sora and Midori.

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Ari, having just turned 18 today, was celebrating in the streets with her friends, dancing and laughing despite the rain. Her pure white hair was covered in rainbow streaks, which were only slightly darker when drenched in rain. The bangs stuck to her forehead and side of her face. The long straight locks usually hung down past her shoulders, but looked shorter drenched and tangled from being tossed haphazardly. She had come from Midgar to get food and see some friends, and of course she had gotten side tracked.

Honestly, who could resist dancing in the rain? Her emerald eyes twinkled, the blue ring around her right pupil looking particularly blue against the gray sky. Her skin was slightly tanned, which was hard to avoid when you were outside a lot. A loose white t-shirt billowed around her small figure, a purple tank top clinging to her form underneath. Parts of the drenched white shirt showed the purple material underneath where they clung to her. Orange corduroy shorts clung to her waist, and her shoes had been abandoned on the side of the road. The rain had just been letting up when everything had pretty much asplodedifyed.

Suddenly there was an explosion and planes came out of no where, dropping weird looking people. And everyone was running and Ari lost her friends in the rush. She managed to dive roll into an alley, hiding in a very small crevice between boxes. There was a lot of noise, and things slowly died down. Ari, having lost feeling in her but and legs decided to risk getting up and out of her hiding spot. It was like a different place. Rain was still falling steadily, but everything was silent except for the occasional snarl or order. Keeping close to walls and letting her instincts take over she inched down the alley way till she could see into a major street. In order to get out she had to take that risk.

Checking both ways for any of the weird soldiers she'd seen she took a deep breath, and ran.

All she could focus on was the other alley, and getting there as fast as her short legs could carry her. But someone up there had other plans for her, and her bare wet foot landed on a slick patch of gravel. And suddenly her foot was flying sideways, and the rest of her body and momentum carried her sideways and forward, rolling and sliding. Quite loudly. She looked up slowly to see a bizarre dog like creature leaping from a roof, barking along the way. Suddenly she heard the soldiers approaching again, and struggled quickly to her feet, feeling warm liquid, blood, trickling from her hairline, knee, and hip. But she felt no immediate pain as she started again for the alley, only to have the dog-thing barrel into her, knocking her forcefully back onto the concrete, at the feet of a solider. Then and only then did she revert to last resort mode. She screamed at the top of her little lungs. She tried to scoot away, only to have jaws snapping at her. Futility she struggled again to her feet, only to be grabbed roughly by the soldiers.

"She still seems young enough, let's send her off with the rest," one said.

"The last one just left, we'll have to wait for the next one," the other pointed out and they continued on their merry way.

"Um...guys? I'm 18, you know that right?" Ari piped up, only to be jolted to a stop. The two stared at her in a not-good way.

"Then we can just leave her to the dogs right?" one asked, already loosening his hold. The dogs behind her suddenly became much more frightening.

"No wait I'm two, I'm innocent!!" she wailed, and they continued on as before. After a good while of practicing they came around a corner with some other little children and bad guys. Suddenly she struggled avidly against the chains, screaming and yelling again. She flailed and kicked her legs, proving quite difficult as more soldiers began to advance warily.

"STOP TOUCHING ME PERVERTS!" she yelled as one hand trying to detain her landed in a not so good chestile area. Suddenly one of the guys holding her fell to the ground after two gun shots. Many gunshots later and all the bad guys and their bizarre dogs had fallen. Ari, wide eyed and incredibly grateful/afraid looked up.

There was a cape, and a gun, and a very capable person wielding the gun and wearing the cape. There was silence before Ari spoke up,

"Are you going to shoot us…me?" she asked, breaking the silence. In response the man simply holstered his gun and turned to walk away. Ari, after regaining her breath and a regular heart beat, took off after him.

"Wait!" she called, dashing after him. He stopped and glanced sideways over his shoulder, and she waved and smiled. Skipping from behind, to beside, to in front of she stopped, beaming up at him.

"I'm Ari, and you kinda just saved me. Major bonus points. So I'm going to travel with you! At least until we get to Midgar," she stated, holding her hands on her hips and rocking her weight from one foot to the other.

He was silent, staring at her curiously and slowly raising one eyebrow.

"So yeah…proceed!" Ari chirped, moving to stand on his right side, left hand fisted childishly in his cape.

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**Squral:** _Kay so I shalst be playing Sora and my emo kid, cloud. I find it just so hilarious that Sora means sky and cloud is cloud ^^, and we're making Taffy join. With Reno. This is going to be very amusing!_

Sora licked a glob of cream cheese icing from her fingers and carefully placed a clear plastic container over Ari's beast of a birthday cake which Sora had spent three painstaking hours baking to perfection. Said beautiful cake was roughly the size of a cabinet door and circular. The thinner layer of moist, slightly sticky strawberry cake was placed precisely on top of a thicker layer of chocolate marbled new York cheese cake. Intricate little frosting flowers, rainbows, and smiley faces dotted the sides. The icing? Cream cheese. And written on this marvelous cake in rainbow cursive were the words "happy 18th birthday Ari!"

Now, why go through all the trouble for this massive cake? A) Ari was one of Sora's best and closest friends and B) Her profession happened to be baking. She owned a quaint little shop in the slums of midgar conveniently placed a few paces from the seventh heaven bar. It had two stories; downstairs was the shop and upstairs was where the trio's rooms lay. It certainly wasn't big but it was cozy enough.

Wiping her hands on her apron, she stood back and admired her work. The explosion that followed shook the shook the windows, rattled the door, and knocked several things off the granite counter including the cake. With a quick "shit!" she dove for the precious pastry and caught it on the tips of her extended fingers. Within the time it took for her to catch the falling cake the mini earthquake stopped. She rushed outside just in time to see the small city "edge" combust. Her eyes widened as flames engulfed buildings and planes started to hover near the ground. The first word out of her open mouth was "Ari", Ari, whom she'd sent out to go get supplies in Edge.

Before she knew exactly her plan of action Sora was out the door and halfway down the street when she realized she needed a mode of transportation, so she could get ari and GTFO. Her sliver eyes darted around wildly until they rested upon a glorious motorcycle. It gleamed in the firelight as if to say "Yeah, take me! I bet I'm even faster than the flying car. And you won't have to cut off your foot or be raped!"

Thus Sora ended up hotwiring the big black bike, and as the beast roared to life the door to the bar opened. The owner of the bike, so Sora assumed he was, muttered "hey!" loudly. Their eyes met for a second, fierce blue against silver, and then she was speeding down the street, eyes streaming, and screaming something unintelligible that sounded a lot like "OH CLUSTERFUCK!" And Cloud stood there for one more moment before blinking and tearing down the street after his bike. This is when the dark sky opened up and started to pour down rain. Keep in mind that Sora has never ridden on a motorcycle let alone driven one. Stay tuned for the chaos that ensues!

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Ta da! I honestly hope at least one person likes this, and we do have the next couple chapters ready so I'll update at least once a month for awhile, I'll be sure to let you guys know if that would ever change!

3

EloquentDisaster


	2. Of Generally Poor Decisions

Hello chapter two!

Hello no reviews.

Laaaammeee, I dunno how to see if anyone has ever read it yet so I'm not sure what's going on but I plan on updating once a week (On Wednesdays if I can manage!) so hopefully someone will see this eventually and like it or hate it or at least let me know how you feel about it! I mean, I'll keep putting up chapters regardless of reviews but it's nice to know someone's enjoying it, y'know?

Anyways, yeah, so we get creative with our fonts and titles whenever it's our turn (we use them to keep track) and they get pretty freakin' hilarious later so I think I'll leave them up just to see if someone gets the lame inside jokes or movie references! Bold is whoever it is, italics is what they say.

**Disclamage: **Same rules apply. I'd put something witty and funny here buuutttt I got nothing. And it's not like anyone really reads this anyways and it is an M story for language so flaming crap in a flaming bucket....ON FIRE. OH THE CONFLAGRATION.

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**Sarawr:** _OH CLUSTERFUCK! xD_

About 15 minutes into following her savior, whose name she had yet to find out, Ari had figured a few things out. Mr. Knight in pretty much no armor was good, verrryyy good with a gun. But as good as he was he had only one gun, and Ari had no weapons. She could fist fight well for a girl her age, no to mention a girl her size, but fighting while he was trying to shoot, well, she didn't trust him that much yet. Maybe if he ever spoke. Or maybe he was a mute… Shrugging they rounded a corner, and he swiftly raised his gun and cocked it. By now Ari knew that meant duck and cover.

Taking a rather acrobatic dive roll she ended up pressed against an alley wall, watching the battle ensue. She ignored the heat rising slowly in her cheeks, trying to tell herself he did not look abnormally hot when shooting that gun. That big, niiice, shinyy gun. Blinking rapidly she shook her head and brushed away the drool forming nonchalantly, psh no, she was not drooling. Sighing at how quickly the hot savior had completely won her over. She finally glanced back up at him to see him staring openly at her, bodies laying around him, his gun holstered, a sign the battle was over. Smiling despite herself she took a step toward him, only to feel a thump from behind her.

Turning automatically to glance over her shoulder her emerald eyes widened considerably. It was one of those dogs from before. Her mouth opened to form an 'oh', only to form into her mouthing 'oh shit' when two more dogs dropped in front of her. She heard what she could only suppose was her savior sucking in a breath and letting out a growling sound, though it could've been the dogs. One leapt, though it soared over her head, only to be blasted by a gun shot. His rifle. He meant business. The stunned body flew backward, crashing into her. The dog's weight sent her flying forward, only to be grabbed around the waist by the jaws of one of the dogs, the remaining one joining his recovered comrade and advancing on Vincent.

She was half dragged, half carried away, the monster things teeth digging into her skin. She managed to twist her body so she caught a glimpse of Vincent before the creature jumped. With two fatal shots to the head each dog fell. But before their bodies even fell to the ground Vincent had readjusted his aim, shooting the dog carrying her straight in its neck, where the jugular vein would've been. She felt the jaws instantly release her, and she was rolling straight for the unforgiving ground.

And then she was anchored to something warm, and sailing comfortably through the air, up to nearby ledge. She squeaked in surprise and curled in toward what she could only assume was her savior's chest, fisting his shirt she squeezing her eyes shut.

After a few second he grunted and Ari blinked, raising her head and looking around.

"HEY! I'm alive!" she cheered, releasing his shirt front her hand and attempting to jump down. Carefully he guided her down so she wouldn't go tumbling down what she had just so narrowly avoided. She continued to have her own I-just-escaped-death-for-the-second-time-today dance when she stopped, turning to her savior.

"Seriously, what's your name?" she asked, a small crease forming between her eyebrows while she waited. He was quiet for a looong while, as per usual.

"Vincent Valentine," he mumbled, his voice husky and grumbly. Maybe from disuse? Ari's face flushed briefly before she nodded, smiling.

"Nice to meet you Vincent! And thanks for saving me twice too!" Ari giggled, looking around form the perch on the roof top, ledge ness. "So Vincent, where too next?"

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**Squral:** _I R tis be the amazing!_

Sora laughed, a hysteric laugh intermixed with joy and fear. Said laugh echoed back to the guy chasing her who was just around the corner. She was Already inside the city boundaries of "Edge", speed escalating rapidly. Rain slicked her uneven bangs to her forehead flopping into her eyes, and her long bright carrot orange hair was streaming behind her, having come out from the long braid it was in which usually extended down to her butt. The bike was out of control, sliding on the rain slickened road. She screamed as she headed toward the wall, trying to stop the thing, which was hydroplaning. Where was the goddamn panic button when you needed it?

In a last ditch effort she thrust the bike sideways. The rubber burned, producing a loud skidding noise. Instead of stopping as she hoped it would, the bike tires lost traction with the asphalt and went spinning and screeching across the harsh gravely ground. With her still on board. Sora squinted her eyes closed tightly and gritted her teeth from the pain of having her side skinned and bruised. Her fingers slipped from the handlebars and the bike was flung still screeching into the wall, where it Ka-THUNKED to a stop.

Sora lay on the ground, letting little drops of rain fall on her already soaking body. That was epic failure if she ever saw it. She groaned when she decided to sit up and felt the intense burning in her side; winced when she touched her waist and her hand came away dotted with dark red speckles. Her shirt was torn all up the side, and the pale as hell freckled skin was definitely flayed, bruises blossoming into multicolored flowers but amazingly the rest of her was unharmed aside from the few cuts on her befreckled cheek and the tiny rip in her striped stockings. Plus the fact that her hair was everywhere, curling, not waving, _curling_ from the rain, looking remarkably like that one kid from the grudge.

She crawled on her hands and knees to the bike and picked it up gingerly, took one look at the damaged paint and the bent mirror and dropped it, deciding at that point to run like hell. There was no way the owner would let her survive with this. So she staggered to her feet and began to limp away.

When Sora had gone a fair distance away from the bike she stopped to take a quick break, for her side was going numb from the wet coldness and for some odd reason her ankle throbbed. It was so cold in fact that she could see her breath in the air and shivered. Did she come dressed for the occasion? Oh hell no! And it was nightfall all of a sudden. Bleak, grey, dark, wet, and freezing. The streetlights flickered fluorescent blue or buzzed yellow, casting warped glowing pools of light onto the street.

Sora walked out into the open tentatively, wondering vaguely why she wasn't seeing anyone. Given the huge explosion she'd think the people would be rushing into Midgar for safety. Mist swirled, churning under the street lights, and pulsing across the ground; Little tendrils of the fog wrapped around her legs like something out of a horror movie.

Timidly she called "Ari?!" in a pitifully small voice. And there appeared a shadow at the end of the blocked off street. Being the genius she was, Sora darted down the street as fast as she could run with a weird hop step gait. That's when she realized that no, that person in the neon glowing blue suit was indeed NOT Ari. This was especially noticeable when the guy called over three more in a very official sounding voice. And they SHOT at her. A bullet came so close as to graze her shoulder. Sora gasped and hobbled into a nearby alley, behind a crate clutching her now bleeding shoulder. _Yup that's not Ari. _

"Get her!" They shouted in a very drone like manner. Their advance was slow, she could hear the soft footfalls. Then a fourth set of footsteps joined the advance to her hiding place, feet splashing very loudly through puddles. There was an enraged battle cry and then the sound of ringing steel, gunfire, screams, and then silence.


	3. Rule 1: DON'T DIE

Another Wednesday, another chapter!

So, I was wondering why the story was getting so very little (as in no) attention when I realized that rated M stories don't show up on just regular skimming-the-page searches unless specified. And honestly, there's nothing very M rated except maybe the language. So, in favor of more possible popularity, I changed the rating to T (And honestly, what teenagers don't curse like sailors nowadays?) If the language or anything else seriously offends you I'm deeply sorry.

...Except not to much. There is worse stuff, _much_ worse stuff.

So anyways, Happy Hump Day! (It's Wednesday, like, the hump or middle of the week? Please don't go humping random strangers.)

**Disclaimer: **Guess what? I still don't own anything in this story except my own character, as my friends own theirs. They're our brain babies, please don't steal them, just like you wouldn't try and steal Cloud Strife or Aerith Gaisburough or Vincent Valentine or Sephiroth or Zack or Yuffie or Tifa, et cetera.

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**SAARARRARA: **_Huzzah~ We survived 3:15!_

Ari had been searching around aimlessly from above while Vincent shot down the occasional sniper, and sniped some. Pretty quickly Vincent had shoved Ari behind him, so the occasional shot he could block. With his gold arm glove thing, which Ari found the most amazing thing.

"Sweet Jesus, that's amazing!" Ari practically shouted, immediately taking Vincent's gold hand and marveling over it for awhile. It was just so shiny. Vincent momentarily froze at the sudden contact, freezing up and watching with his full attention as her small fingers danced over the sharp gold casings. Slowly Vincent realized her fingers were shaking, and he traced the movement up her arms all the way to the slight shaking of her entire frame. Her large white t-shirt was completely soaked, and it clung to her small frame, the purple tank top utterly visible. Her small bare feet were dirty and cut up from running so much. All in all she looked like a regular street urchin, with her breath coming in shaky puffs.

But she was so much more lively, with more life in her eyes and just in her. Even shivering and being dazzled by his golden glove she looked like she was happy. Shrugging off his cape he draped it around her shoulders, and she was even more astounded by this. Her face lit up and she gazed up at him through wide eyes, wondering and excited. Giggling she wrapped the cape securely around her, comforted by the warmth. The corner of Vincent's eyes twitched up at the beginning of a possible smile, but was stopped as a bullet glanced off Ari's shoulder. What was it about her that attracted so much trouble? Placing himself between her and the bullet path he fired off three shots and saw the man fall. Turning back to Ari he carefully pried her fingers away from her shoulder. Examining it he sighed in relief as the shot really just barely cut above her shoulder, and the rain washed the small flow of blood away to past to be seen anyways.

Ari tried not to gawk openly as he examined her shoulder. Most would've said this day had sucked, but Ari begged to differ. Honestly, this was probably going to end ranking one of her top days. Quickly Vincent's 'moment', she had dubbed it, was over and her gaze swept over to a street where she heard a resounding squealing and ka-thunking. Her eyebrows furrowed as they always did when she was focusing on something, and biting her bottom lip would soon follow.

Suddenly a small girl, about her age, was running from the motorcycle. Ari watched her from the perfect vantage point, not noticing Vincent joining her in observing. The girl paused, looked forward, and began again, but now heading toward something instead of away. She called something but Ari couldn't distinguish it.

"She just called your name…" Vincent mumbled, and Ari gawked at him. He'd just made a complete sentence! But wait…her name?! Ari looked back and realized whoever it was they were headed for danger. One solider spotted them, and was quickly joined by others. The idiot of a girl realized this only once the bullet had hit her that these people weren't her friends, or Ari for that matter.

But what sort of idiot would crash a bike that nice and run towards people with guns? But with a sharp intake of breath Ari realized what kind of idiot. Her idiot.

"SORA! DON'T DIE!" Ari screamed, dropping Vincent's cape and leaping from the roof top to a lower ledge, making it to the streets without breaking anything, and broke into a dead run through the streets. Vincent stood where he was, utterly shocked as this girl simply threw away her own delicate well being to save a friend. A friend who was well protected Vincent supposed when he saw Cloud enter the scene, busting out his buster sword. His wide red eyes followed Ari as she ran, slid and tripped, got back up, and disappeared down an alley. Once Vincent lost sight of her something clicked, and he was flying across roof tops, searching for her running aimlessly, gun cocked and ready to shoot down whoever would be following her.

"Ari, don't die," he growled, having grabbed his cape and holding it fisted and wet in his other hand.

**SQURAL!**

"Where is the motorcycle." He demanded this information of her more than asked. Sora couldn't speak for a second. The shock of having his face so near seemed to disable her voice box. Now, being completely honest this guy was so hot you could probably roast marshmallows off his chest. "Er…." was the most she could choke out.

"Where" He warned lowly, grabbing both of her shoulders with black gloved hands. ((Fishsticks)).

Sora laughed nervously. "You mean the demon bike? It's lying in a dismantled heap by over yonder" She said blatantly, pointing in the vague direction of , "They had intercourse. I hope you don't mind."

Her rescuer just stared at her, lips twitching, head tilted down with his short bangs shadowing his eyes in a very anime- like fashion. He seemed to be having trouble absorbing the previous information. She thought he was going to have a brain apoplexy. Or spontaneously combust into candy, either one.

Then he started laughing, to her surprise. This scared her more than if he would have started yelling or staying silent, for he didn't seem like the "Haha lol, you just totaled my bike, LAWL" sort of person. The chuckle died abruptly in his throat and his head snapped up. His eyes were blue balls of FIYA.

He stood up, wrapped his fingers around her wrist and began to drag Sora towards his dead mo-mo-cicle. She didn't protest. It was either him or the many devil puppies roaming around with their spandex wearing, david-bowie like owners.

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**A/N: **TA-DA~

Getting late so this is breif. Like, love, or hate it I'd LOVE to know. Like seriously. If you really don't want to review just e-mail or something.

TELL ME THIS IS ALL FOR NAUGHT.


	4. Dear Satan

Happy Hump Day yet again dear readers! (Or y'know, those imaginary readers that I make up in my head to justify posting this) Who knows, I could be talking completely to myself, which would make me crazy. But if I'm talking to myself that means nobody is reading this which would make me crazy but then nobody would know I was crazy because if anyone did read this it would mean I was talking to them which would mean I'm not crazy!

...

Sorry, it's been a long silly day. Yayyyy half days and panic attacks! Woo! Though I'll refrain from ranting about my week unless people really want to know (In which case you should, y'know, leave a comment telling me so! Please?)

GOODNESS. Anyways, enough of my begging, in this chapter (Slightly longer you will notice!) We introduce dear Taffy into the roleplay, adding a good sized chunk to the roleplay. This will be all the people we will ever have on this roleplay, though the length will still vary because some of us were forced to post (*cough*) while others let there muses run wild for oh, six pages and it ends up being a competition to see who can post the most. UGH.

Fun times! But without further ado, chapter (22! It rhymes. :3) 4!

**Disclaimersmadoodle: **I do not feel the need to write this nonsense out anymore because it's late and I want to sleep, though I will apologize for typos and language. Sorry. ('Cept not really)

:]

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**SARARARARRARA:** _has a loverly bunch of coconuts~_

As soon as Ari was down in the streets she realized she had no idea which way Sora was. When she had been up on the roof tops she had spotted Sora easily through the winding, labyrinth like streets. Streets like a maze, and laced with bag guys. Bad guys with guns and evil doggies. That had nearly killed her several times. She came to a dead stop, looking all around her with wide emerald eyes. There she was, being Ari. Standing in the middle of a wide, unprotected street, with plenty of alleys and places to snipe her from. How many times was she going to almost die today? And she had left behind the person who had saved her multiple times and was incredibly yummy.

"Something is seriously wrong with me!" she wailed, turning down a random alley, preferring the tight space to the wide open area. She followed the twisting alleys at a dead run for awhile, until they deposited her unmercifully in a big ass clearing. She slowed her pace to an ambling walk until she was in the middle, climbing an iron structure until she could look around the abandoned plaza.

It was all quiet, and then she noticed the dull humming in the background becoming a dull roar. She looked up curiously, and her eyes widened again as a giant ship came flying into the airspace above the plaza. Her jaw dropped as it paused, circled, and focused on her. She mouthed an 'Oh shitballs' as the guns adjusted their focus to her. Little, old, unprotected, idiotic Ari. Something in the guns clicked, and she voiced her opinion on the situation.

"SHIT!" she screeched, sliding down the structure, scraping herself up along the way. But a few cuts and bruises were nothing when she heard the machine guns go off in the exact spot she had been standing dumbfounded just earlier. She stumbled and ran away to the nearest alley she could see, feeling a breeze from where the chopping blades keeping the iron contraption a float switched to follow her escape route.

"Why're you all so intent on killing meee?" she wailed to no one in particular, feeling her feet were not moving as fast as she needed. "Dear Santa WHYY?"

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**Taffy:** _iz blue [da ba dee da ba die] Let's take a break from this violence shall we? :]_

Throughout all this violence, running like hell, meeting hot guys and who knows what other nonsense, the final member of our quirky trio sat in her room, drawing on a pad of paper with carefully controlled strokes. Midori was the artist of the group; as well as helping to make (and quite often sampling) the cakes that Sora and Ari made, she sold her art on the streets to fund their living quarters. Along with an easy way to make a nice bit of money, drawing helped Midori to calm down and cleanse herself of the stress of daily life. She was also listening to radio--a little background music seemed to enhance her ability further. The newest song had just reached its chorus when the loud explosion mentioned in previous posts suddenly rocked the world, making it shake back and forth and at the same time causing a long, black gash to appear on the paper as Midori's hand slipped on her drawing.

She stared at the picture, eyes growing wide as they beheld the horror of her ruined art, which she had taken the last hour and a half to draw, and it wasn't even finished yet. Before she had time to worry about it too much, however, a loud "Shit!" echoed up to her from downstairs. Midori looked up. She knew that voice; that was a Sora shit. Her eyes focused, the first thing they found being the window.

"_It's raining men, hallelujah it's rainin' men!"_

And there they were; human figures were falling from the sky. A sense of unreality struck Midori at that moment, and time seemed to slow, the song from the radio repeating itself in her head as men continued to fall from the sky. What an odd sensation.

Another rumble shook the house, bringing Midori back to her senses. Shoving her art off her lap and onto her bed, she lurched across the room, stumbling because A) the rumbling and shaking hadn't stopped and B) there was stuff strewn across the floor. Mostly clothes, books, and random crap that they hadn't yet bothered to keep off the floor, for who could predict a freak earthquake that would prove their room to be a death trap? (Alright, now I'm just rambling.)

Reaching the open door in a matter of seconds, Midori threw herself down the stairs so fast she was in danger of falling down them. Unfortunately, in the time it took for all of this to transpire, Sora had caught the cake and was already running out of the door.

"Sora!" Midori called, dashing to the glass front of the bakery. By now the mini earthquake or whatever it was had stopped, and she could see clearly. Although that didn't really help, as what she saw next didn't make much sense. A black-clad figure rushed past her as she opened the door, chasing after a lunatic on a motorcycle that was racing down the street faster, she was sure, than the speed limit allowed. Only one lunatic would jack a motorcycle like that. "Sora!" Midori screamed, taking several quick steps out of the bakery, but both the motorcycle and its pursuer had disappeared down the street.

Only then did Midori notice the flames engulfing the city of Edge on yonder horizon. Her eyes rounded to the size of moons. "Ari," she whispered.

It seemed like luck decided to shine on her for once, because only seconds after she had uttered the name of one of her best friends, two people darted past. Out of desperation she called out to them, hoping that they were friendly and that they could help her. "Hey! Are you--?"

Before she even finished the sentence, the redhead stopped dead and whirled around. The brown-skinned man, who had been running a few paces behind him, jerked to a stop--unfortunately his face met the redhead's arm, which had flew out when he spun to face Midori. She winced as the two body parts made contact, resulting in a loud CRACK as the redhead's companion's glasses broke.

"What?" the redhead called, meeting her gaze with vivid green eyes.

Now, Midori had always been more level-headed than her friends. She tended to be the smart one in any given situation, whereas Sora and Ari always seemed to be on the alert for guys. However, at that particular moment, the only word that ran through Midori's mind as the redhead turned to face her was "hot".

Then she realized that both of them were staring at her. The ball was in her court again. "Um…are you going…over that way?" Midori asked, gesturing in the vague direction of Edge and all its flaming glory.

At that moment, the motorcycle that Sora was riding decided to crash into Mr Wall with a resounding ka-THUNK, which echoed its way through the empty street to the spot where Midori and the two strangers happened to be standing. The redhead whipped around, then shot back at Midori, "Yeah, we're going that way," before taking off again.

After a short second, Midori raced after him. "Then I'm coming with you!" she cried, quickly catching up to the redhead's side. He glanced at her like she was crazy, but an explosion sounded from the direction they were running and he refrained from commenting.

* * *

**The very special squral:** _Hahaha! This is amusing_

As they reached the heap of steaming dead motorcycle through the fog, Cloud's throat constricted into a very dry swallow. It really looked worse than it was, but when analyzing the internal damage you could tell that something very vital in the engine was busted. External damage included scraped paint, broken/bent mirror, and the nose of the bike had a dent in it from where it collided with the wall, which also looked like it had suffered.

Cloud ran a hand absently through his spiky blond hair, heaving a pent up sigh. At least the bike could be fixed in a reasonably short period of time. He'd built the outer bike out of a super strong alloy and bullet proof metal; but apparently even bullet proof metal couldn't stop this crazy chick. He wasn't as angry with her as he'd thought he was. Under the freckles, the pale skin, the evil-mischievous smile, the pixie-like features and the wide childish dark silver eyes of this strange little… Stranger, he found a certain familiarity that was comforting and yet painful at the same time. No not angry, but now he had a burning curiosity as to know why she had stolen the bike in the first place.

He quickly released her hand, realizing that on the short trek to the wreckage, his fingers had slid from wrapped her wrist to wound tightly around her small hand. This just made things more awkward, for Cloud wasn't good at starting up conversations, or holding them for that matter. He avoided direct eye contact (even though it was hard not to stare; he knew she was staring at his eye color), shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat before managing "I'm Cloud." And he cleared his throat again after these two simple words, which he couldn't even say without having his voice crack.

"I'm Sora!" She said, bursting into loud giggles followed by a snort and more wild giggles. Cloud raised an eyebrow at her, not really understanding all of the laughter. "Sora…." He addressed her, letting her name roll off his tongue before continuing, "Why did you take the bike?"

She stopped fidgeting with her unruly hair abruptly, and smiled, capturing his eyes with her own, the second time she'd done that. It sent his spine tingling and left a strange skip in his heart beat. "I came here on a rescue mission to get my friend Ari. And I needed the bike," She paused thoughtfully "I would've given it back! Just… I've never controlled a motorcycle before."

Cloud could feel his jaw dropping slightly, staring at her stupidly. She could have died in that crash, and she would have done it to save a friend. Sounded very familiar to something Aerith would have done. They were so alike, and this is when Cloud came to the conclusion that he couldn't just leave this kid alone like he had planned on.

"I don't have the money to fix this" Sora blurted, gesturing at the bike.

"Could you work it off?" Cloud questioned quietly. Sora glared at him and took a step back "Whoa, whoa, whoa buddy, I don't deal in that kind of 'work'."

It took poor little Cloud a second to see where the conversation miscommunication took place. Heat crept under his collar and over his cheeks. "I-I meant work for me to pay off the bike" He mumbled lowly, tucking his chin into his high coat collar while looking down and to the side, a nervous habit he'd picked up from Vincent. This still couldn't hide the coloring in his cheeks.

"OH!" She said brightly, "What would you want me to do?"

It took Cloud another few awkward moments to compose himself (the silly boy) before answering, "I'm the leader of an anti crime organization called avalanche. So you'd be serving as a temporary member until the bike gets paid off. What abilities do you have?"

Sora looked pensive, "Well, I can bake, and heal really well, and my main weapons are my knowledge of pressure points and my glaive. What do you do in Avalan"- She was cut off by the not so distant sounds of rapid machine gun fire and screams that echoed towards them, the last of which sounded like "SANTA, WHY?!"

Cloud pulled out his ginourmous sword and began running when he realized that Sora wasn't holding anything. Sora blinked at him, shouting innocently, "I forgot my weapon at the bakery. I can go run and get it if you like!"

Cloud looked up, eyes narrowing, threw a glance at her, and grabbed Sora's hand again before darting in the direction of the war like sounds, to make sure she was with him. So very much like Aerith. Same weapon, same talent, same tendencies. _Why_ thought Cloud as they ran, _Why is it that the Universe always likes kicking me in the nuts. Repetitively._

_

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**A/N: **I have decided to include anyone who reviews in later chapters if they wish, and all who review will be thanks the chapter after they review. Yeahhh, I'm normally not this incredibly needy but I want reviews and awful lot! I don't need them to continue posting obviously so yeah, but I still hope someone out there is enjoying this, if just a little bit!!

~Eloquent


	5. Passing Out, The First of Many

HOLYGODAREVIEW. I just wan to take this moment to say I knew it was possible, and to thank Allah, and God, and Buddha, and Satan who answered my pathetic prayers! This chapter is dedicated entirely to you anonymous!

I'm going to make this little blurb quick cuz it's late on a Wednesday night and I have to go to school tomorrow, unlike Monday, Tuesday, and today (YAY STUDENT HOLIDAYS/TEACHER WORKSHOPS~) and I need to be well rested o I can do my homework through all of first period, yayyyy band. WOO. So yeah, happy hump day, enjoy the story, and seriously anonymous girl, I was so excited to update this and sing praises of joy upon you, I will continue to post this story solely for your enjoyment! HUZZAH!

Oh, also! Go look up Repo! A Genetic Opera. I think that's what it's called...anyway, yeah...FREANKIN AWESOME.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything because I'm a poor leper, HAPPY?!

* * *

**Sara** _in da hood, yo._

Ari had tucked herself in a corner of one of the sides, behind some boxes. She felt pretty secure, but this of course left her rather extravagant hair exposed to the circling ship of death. She raised her eyes, watching while trying to draw in decent breaths. It just kept circling, mocking her and her bladders readiness to pee. And why oh why had she left Vincent? She decided if she lived she was most definitely going to try to use her brain more often. Or at least develop some logic. Or maybe just duct tape herself to Vincent, under his cape. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

Vincent was cursing under his breath…a lot. He may have been a rather silent guy but he knew his fair share of colorful words. And when he ran out of those he just started making some up. No matter what he said the way he was growling them they all sounded like some rather nasty curse words. Gun drawn he was hopping rooftop rather frantically, shooting anything that moved. Then he heard it, the sound of machine gun bullets fiercely grinding against metal. He sighed, Ari most definitely wasn't made of metal. However, if he'd learned anything in the last few hours with the girl she went skipping into danger, smiling the whole way. Obviously survival instincts and self preservation had skipped this generation. But he almost felt relieved when he saw the giant ship circling. He ran dead on at the metal flying beast, gun cocked and aimed, waiting for trigger. For good measure he activated his fire materia. He waited to get a clear shot of the ship…

Ari watched as the ship passed over her once more, only to have its wing literally blasted off, falling in its flaming glory toward her minorly safe haven. "OH EFF!" she screeched, leaping over the crates in an amazing flash of adrenaline and ninja skills, and mad dashing for the opposite direction of where she was. Because all she knew was imminent death was, once again, falling toward her in crushing, flaming glory. Just as the flaming metal hit the ground she cleared the danger zone, though the impact and following explosion tossed her forward and off her feet. Rolling she smashed rather ungracefully into the metal structure in the middle. Groaning she struggled to push herself to a standing position, her vision fading in and out of black and blurry.

Vincent smirked and could almost laugh as the monster's entire half was blown off, causing it to teeter away, retreating for now. Quickly he arrived at the edge of the plaza area, watching as the wing smashed down and entire area, exploding upon contact with the ground. He felt his stomach drop as he spotted a rather colorful head come rolling just in front of the firey wing. Damn it! He'd be trying to save her and /that/ had almost killed her. But she was alive! Seemed a little banged up, as she smashed rather audibly against the metal structure, though she wobbly got up, blinking rapidly.

Ari was thinking about sitting back down when something black and red and gold slipped into her vision. She blinked again, but the image didn't clear up, though she could assume it was Vincent. Or she was dead. But as she collapsed into his chest she hoped she was alive, because goodness it was so _nice._ Letting her head loll against his chest as his arms supported her she sighed in relief.

"Hey," she mumbled, closing her eyes, "I'm going to take a nap now." And quickly her entire body slumped, resting her full weight against him and in his arms. Vincent grunted slightly but tossed one of her arms over his shoulder, looping his other arm around her waist. Now he just needed to find somewhere not deadly for her to rest. He was letting himself relax and trying to think of a good place to chill, when the roar of that stupid plane that was somehow still flying when it should be burning in cinders reached his ears, quickly growing louder. He looked up, scowling, as it loomed over the tops of the building, simply staring his down in that weird metallic way. With a very unconscious Ari on his one side he unconsciously turned her away from the line of fire. He raised his gun, but figured he wouldn't last long once it started firing back.

Cursing some more he raised his glaring red gaze to the skies. "You send me some miracle or smite me now," he ordered, watching the ship carefully.

* * *

_And, cue Cloud or Reno and Rude or SOMEONE entering to SAVE US! D: _

**Taffy** _of the chocolate chip COOKIES_

More explosions echoed from the direction of Edge. Gritting her teeth, Midori pushed herself to go even faster, trying her hardest to keep up with the redhead's long strides. They didn't seem to be having any trouble running as fast as they were, which still wasn't fast enough in her opinion.

"We're not going to make it!" she gasped, although what they weren't going to make it to was beyond her at the moment.

"Then let's stop wasting time and get there already!" the redhead answered. Without giving Midori time to protest, he leaned sideways (still running) and pulled her onto his back. "Hold on!" And they were off, both the redhead and glasses guy picking up speed until the houses they were running past turned into a gray blur. Midori wrapped her arms tightly around the redhead's neck, wind blowing into her face and making her eyes water. Damn, how did they run so fast?

Soon enough, she could hear a dull metallic roar over the whistling of the wind. Raising her head slightly, she attempting to peer ahead to see what was causing the noise. She almost toppled backward as they reached the mouth of a narrow alley and entered a large, circular area and the redhead skidded to a halt along with glasses man.

"What is that?!" Midori cried, staring with wide eyes at the huge ship that was cruising lazily overhead. It seemed to be circling something. She looked down, stormy gray eyes carefully scanning the area until they alighted on a familiar mass of hair. "Ari!" she shrieked, jumping off the redhead's back and racing across the clearing.

"Hey, come back!" the redhead cried, running after her with glasses guy on his heels. Midori paid them no mind, almost a blur herself as she ran across the clearing to where a tall, dark figure in a cape stood, Ari in his arms. Whoever this stranger was, he didn't seem to pose a threat, but she could never be too sure. She stopped a few paces away, watching the stranger warily. "Ari?"

The stranger ignored her, staring over her head as redhead and glasses caught up. "Finally," he muttered in a deep voice.

"Looks like you could use some help," redhead remarked lightly, having also noticed the giant ship flying overhead.

"What is that thing? And what's up with Ari?" Midori's voice was like a knife edge, sharp and dangerous. She'd be pretty pissed if she didn't start getting some answers soon.

"That," glasses answered, "is the Dragonfly."

"No time for explanations, though," redhead put in with a wink, "because now we have to destroy it. Mind watching this one, too, Vincent? Great, thanks." And with that he took off, apparently all set to go slay Mr. giant flying ship, though Midori couldn't see a single weapon on him.

She turned and looked up at Vincent, deciding that if redhead trusted him then she could, too. She looked at Ari, hopefully unconscious rather than dead, in his arms, and something else occurred to her.

"Sora!" she exclaimed, realizing that the third member of their group was still missing. She turned, fully intent on looking for her other friend, but hand grabbed her wrist and held fast. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a black glove, and realized Vincent was holding her back.

"Don't go running off. Not on your own," he said gruffly.

"Then come with me. We have to find Sora!" The thought of Sora by herself was enough to make Midori worry; the fact that she could be anywhere between here and Midgar, was positively terrifying.

But Vincent shook his head. "We're staying here."

Midori glared at him, but something told her it wouldn't be very wise to argue. Sighing, she pulled her wrist out of Vincent's grip and sat down on a nearby crate, thoughts of Sora filling her mind in a wave of worry and fright.

* * *

**The Strange **_(aka Squral)_

You could no longer tell where the noise was emanating from. It was just bouncing off the gray burning buildings and empty streets. She tried to bring this to Cloud's attention but he was still tooling her around like a rag doll, her feet barely touching the ground. But perhaps he knew where they were going? She didn't know. He just kept the same steady pace, never tiring. He slowed to a halt, in front of a narrow alley which opened up into a spacious circular plaza, grip on her hand loosening.

"Stay behind me" He cautioned, glancing at her before darting into the ominous clearing. At first the noise had completely stopped. At this time a buzzing could be heard. Then the flaming enemy plane in question began to hover toward them. Cloud and Sora merely stood there, gaping at the sheer size of the thing as it passed miraculously over their heads and proceeded over the buildings.

Some crazy red headed guy in a suit then charged after the plane, screaming some profanities after it. He ran smack dab into Cloud's chest. Instead of toppling over, Cloud just stood still, like a sexy sexy statue. The dude, however, toppled to the ground, only to pop right back up again.

He grinned as if relieved to see the tall blond. "Hey Cloud! Long time no see!" He greeted loudly, completely forgetting about chasing after the flaming plane. It would probably crash anyway… [FORESHADOWING]

"Reno" Cloud acknowledged, nodding, voice emotionless. Sora gasped. "You two KNOW each other?" She asked incredulously as another guy showed up on the scene. This one was dark skinned, bald, black suited, with some wicked cool shades. Cloud nodded silently upon this guy's arrival.

Reno brightened, noticing Sora seemingly for the first time. "Yeah of course he knows me! We're best pals, right Cloud?" Reno said matter of factly, slinging his arm around Cloud's shoulder. Cloud snorted and threw a chilling sideways glare at Reno, who withdrew his arm. Man, he was special with a "ch".

Reno laughed nervously and coughed, but quickly filled the awkward gap in conversation. Elbowing Cloud in the side and giving Sora a wink he said suggestively, "So, who's the girl?"

Cloud froze, completely taken off guard by the question. Reno, being the idiot he was, kept on talking. "Oh, I see!" He laughed "she's your new girl, huh?"

Cloud didn't answer. His hand tightened around the hilt of his buster sword reflexively. Apparently Reno was prodding at a sensitive subject for Cloud. But she had to admit, she wouldn't mind being Cloud's new 'girl'. She wondered what he meant by "new". Luckily (and before she could think much more about Reno's meaning) Sora steered the conversation around dangerous waters before Reno had the chance to REALLY piss Cloud off. Because at this point she was pretty sure the icy eyed spiky haired blonde had the ability to slice off Reno's head with minimal effort.

"Um, Cloud was helping me look for my friends"-this sentence earned a weird look from Cloud as he was doing nothing of the sort-"So, have you seen a crazy short girl with no sense of self preservation, and a smart alec chic with short blue hair who has a will to live?"

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THE END, TA DA, REVIEW AND BE MERRY.


	6. A Shortcut Through Hell

OMYGIDDYGOSH.

Two thing! One, I'M SO SUPER SORRY. I know this is a week late but I remembered that I'd forgotten to put up a chapter lst Wednesday on the following Thursday (odd wording...) but yeah, and then I didn't have time and it felt weird not posting on a Friday so I just waited a week. I know it makes no sense but it's the same reason I can't handle turning in school work late or incomplete, cuz I know a 20 is better than a zero, but a zero make me feel like less of a failure in a weird way. xP

ANYWAYS, but also great thanks to dark aura12 for reviewing! WOO, two reviews, picking up speed! I may sound sarcastic but I'm utterly serious, I'm thrilled!! I hope you two will continue to enjoy the story!

So, without further ado, chapter six! (Oh foo, that doesn't rhyme...)

**Disclaimer: **Dr. Who is a wonderful series and the Doctor and Rose should be together FOREVER. D:

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_Sara loves her potatoes. :D_

Vincent had to admit, God had a freakin' hilarious sense of humor. Or maybe he just really hated him. Either way he was now in the company of two strangers who were concerned (for good reason if they knew her) about the girl in his arms, Reno, Rude, and Cloud. Ah good, at least he was in the presence of one generally sane, if a little anti social, person. Unlike the rest of these lunatics. The plane seemed to be gone, he noted, and let his muscles relax as much as possible while still supporting himself and the thoroughly unconscious girl against his side. The wind picked up briefly and blew some of the loose rainbow strands in his face, right in front of his eyes. Great, rainbow vision.

Sighing he delighted in the fact that the hair blew back down from his face, settling onto her head messily. Her breathing remained slow and even, ruffling the hairs of his and hers within the reach of her light breathing. His mind wandered briefly as the rainbow mixed with his black, forming an odd pattern. Blinking suddenly he shook his head of the thought, only to remember Ari when his chin bumped her forehead. She simply grunted lightly in retaliation before her head lolled to the edge of his shoulder and she continued to sleep. She was _not _waking up anytime soon. Then some sort of brilliance smacked him in the face; good, her lack of it wasn't affecting him. One of them would have to think for the both of them it seemed.

…Why was he referring to them as them and us? Resisting the urge to shake his head again he looked up to Cloud and locked gazes. Nodding, Cloud stepped over, raising an eyebrow to encourage Vincent onward with whatever. Honestly, he was less talkative than Vincent.

"So, Ari," he paused when he realized Cloud would have no idea what her name was, "This girl currently passed out on me. She's out. We need to get her somewhere to sleep." Somewhere she would be less likely to die, which would include his watchful ness. He watched Cloud's eyes until the understanding dawned.

"The bar? Our place?" Cloud grumbled, obviously not so keen on the idea. The bar was a steady source of income, and attached was a few rooms and a floor with a few more rooms. They were used to random visitors. Didn't mean Cloud liked having strangers in his house though.

"My room," Vincent affirmed, deciding it would be easier to convince Cloud and easier for him to watch her, which had somehow become top priority. He would puzzle over it later. But Cloud nodded a resigned affirmative and Vincent quickly spun on his heel, swinging Ari up into his arms, her arm still slung around his neck. She easily conformed to his arms, curling her body toward his. He pretended to ignore her snuggling him as he trudged along, back toward the homestead.

He could care less who followed him, or who belly ached about the idea, he was a man on a mission. He glanced down at the colorful, reckless girl in his arms. A mission with very, _very_ important cargo.

* * *

_Taffy is WET (and you are jealouse)_

"Hey, what the hell, where are you taking her?!" Feeling slightly abandoned, Midori hurried after Vincent and Cloud. She could hear footsteps across the plaza behind her, but her attention was focused on these tall, dark strangers who seemed to be taking her friends away. "Ari's still unconscious! What happened? I want an explanation!"

"There's no time for explanation!" Vincent growled, sounding very protective at that particular point in time. Midori looked from him to Ari, curled against his chest, looking as peaceful as she did when she slept. Something was forming there, and she didn't quite approve of it, whatever it was. The same thing seemed to be happening to Sora and Cloud, Sora running at his side like a faithful Labrador.

"Does someone at least want to tell me where we're going?" Midori asked after a moment of silence. She could now hear redhead and shades running along behind them, but her eyes were on Vincent, waiting for an answer.

"The bar," Vincent replied shortly. Frustrated, Midori dropped back to run alongside redhead.

"Not very talkative, are they?" she remarked, staring at Vincent's back. His red cape was swishing back and forth as he ran; she almost wanted to steal it and wear it herself. Maybe she would, if she ever got the chance.

"Nope," redhead answered cheerfully. "Hey, I'm Reno by the way."

"Great. I'm Midori. Nice to meet you." She answered automatically, still concentrating more on Vincent and Cloud than on her conversation with Reno. She shifted over to Sora's side, leaving Reno looking like he was about to start bombarding her with questions. "And where have you been?" she inquired, resisting the urge to tackle her friend to the ground--although out of anger or relief she wasn't quite sure.

"With him!" Sora answered perkily, jerking her thumb at Cloud, who neither looked at them or reacted in any way whatsoever. Midori could tell right away that Sora had done something to piss him off. Maybe it had to do with that motorcycle she stole. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen that motorcycle since. Maybe Sora had crashed it. _That would be a very Sora-ish thing to do._

* * *

_Squirrel Sleeping butt! Sweet God I hate you so very much._

"Hey! Wait up!" Sora called breathily, falling behind (a movement no one seemed to notice); the group just kept speeding along at a steady pace. "UGH!" She shouted her frustration to Jebus and ran along after the group, her exhausted limbs struggling with the effort. By now it felt like she was running through jell-o; her legs were running in a funny flailing sort of way, as she had lost control of them (like what happens when you play ddr on difficult for 5 or 6 hours straight). Gravity was going against Sora's wishes, seemingly pushing against her.

Looking ahead Sora noticed Midori falling behind as well. But Cloud just kept GOING; Vincent kept up even with the Ari sized burden in curled in his arms. Sora stumbled and leaned heavily against the door of a random building, panting, watching the group get farther away. The door was cool and slippery with condensation from the fog and felt wonderful on her hot sweaty back.

The blood curdling screams Sora had heard while she debated trying to catch up with the party had made up her mind for her. Thus she had decided to stay against the door and not move at all.

Cloud paused. Vincent came to a graceful stop beside him, giving the blond a questioning look. "I know a shorter way" He murmured, glancing back at Reno, Rude, then Midori (who was a ways off), and noticing Sora's absence for the first time.

An unexplained rush of panic overcame his senses for a moment followed by a brief spurt of annoyance. _Where is she?!_He thought, scanning the wide alley for her. They hadn't seen any badies for a while, which probably wasn't a good thing. Calm before the storm and what not. And with Sora weaponless… Cloud fought to keep his face blank, calm demeanor slipping.

Cloud turned around wordlessly and began to run, Vincent following slowly at a distance. They found Sora within minutes, spotted easily in the blah-y setting by her bright orange hair. She was sitting contentedly against a door, legs curled into her chest, arms wrapped around her legs; her head was resting against her knee caps.

In this time she had re-braided her long thick unruly hair and healed some of the scratches and cuts on her that she had garnered during her adventure with the motorcycle. Sora looked a lot better in general.

But on the inside she was exhausted. She had some rules and stipulations to her healing powers: If she didn't have enough energy to heal then she would waste herself. It generally depended on if the object she was healing was too great and how much energy she had.

Her head snapped up at the group's approach, fearful of the loud echoing footsteps. But she was deeply relieved to see that it was Cloud and all of her buddies. She noted to herself that Ari needed a healing session when they got out of this ordeal, but only after Sora had rested because she was very close to her breaking point now.

Cloud stopped in front of Sora looking first at her, and then at the door behind her, unsure of what to say. Then he noticed the numbers on the door and glanced at Vincent, who was coming to a gradual stop behind him.

"This is it" Cloud said, almost smiling at the coincidence, "If we go through this building it should make our trip back shorter."

And with that sentence he held out his hand to help Sora up. "Thanks for waiting up!" Sora said with a withering stare directed at Cloud, though she was unbelievably happy to see them.

Uncurling herself, she took Cloud's gloved hand and let him pull her to her feet. Without letting go of her hand (and subconsciously placing Sora behind him) Cloud pushed the creepy door open. Sora could have sworn the building number was 666…

_I'm done you horr__ible people!_

_

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_

Voila! Fin~ OHLALA.

Yayyy French movies and french food and le fracais~

Oh yeah, and yay chapter. :3


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